Red Dead Revolver
Red Dead Revolver is a 2004 western action-adventure third-person shooter video game developed by Rockstar San Diego, published by Rockstar Games and distributed by Take-Two Interactive for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is the first game in the Red Dead series. The game was originally developed and to be published by Capcom , borrowing elements from their 1985 title Gun.Smoke. The project was put into limbo when Angel Studios was purchased by Rockstar Games in November 2002 and became Rockstar San Diego. Rockstar Games purchased the rights from Capcom and expanded on it. Changing the style from Weird West to a Spaghetti Western allowed the developers to add more violence and over-the-top characters. The game reproduces a "grainy film" effect and uses music from various Spaghetti Western films, including film scores composed by Ennio Morricone. Story This game takes place in the 1880s Wild West as Nate Harlow and his partner Griff have found gold in an area called Bear Mountain. To celebrate the find, they commission the creation of two revolvers with a distinct iron cast scorpion on each; Nate takes one and Griff takes the other. Griff is later captured by the Mexican army and sentenced to be executed. However, he offers General Diego half the gold in Bear Mountain if he were to spare his life. Diego complies but later sends his right-hand man, Colonel Daren, to kill Nate. Daren arrives with his men to the Harlow farm and shoots Nate and his wife, Falling Star. However, Nate's son Red retrieves his father's gun and shoots off Daren's left arm before he escapes. Years after his parents' passing, Red becomes a ruthless bounty hunter. He begins by battling a gang led by an outlaw of the name "Bloody Tom". Hoping to claim the bounty on the gang, he takes their bodies into the town of Widows Patch where he is attacked by a rival gang and its leader "Ugly Chris". Red and Sheriff O'Grady beat the gang and survive the attack but the sheriff is badly wounded and must travel into town to see a practitioner. After Red drops O'Grady off, Brimstone's Sheriff Bartlett asks him to help take care of some thugs. This includes battling an evil traveling circus that was originally aided by an English trick-shootist Jack Swift along with other bounties including a former saloon girl turned gang leader and a murderous undertaker. After all the bounties are complete, he asks for the bounty on the corpses' heads. He is told by Sheriff Bartlett, that the gold wagon carrying the head has not yet arrived and later learns that one of the townsfolk, Annie Stoakes, is in danger of losing her farm and that Governor Griffon owns part of Bear Mountain. Recalling that his family was killed over that very mine, he goes to discuss the issue with Annie. After the talk, he goes back to Brimstone to inquire from local ruffians about the whereabouts of the wagon train. When they refuse a fight ensues and Red is forced to kill most of the patrons which finds him arrested by Sheriff Bartlett, from whom he discovers that General Diego and Colonel Daren are still alive and court bound. When he is released he goes to attack a camp where General Diego's supply wagon is apparently stationed. After destroying the wagon he is captured and imprisoned by Col. Daren to work in his mines as slave labor. It is there he meets a captured African American soldier who is known only as the Buffalo Soldier. Finally, with the aid of his Native American cousin Shadow Wolf, he is freed along with the Soldier allowing Red to go and attack Diego's fort and kill Daren, however Shadow Wolf dies of his wounds inflicted by Daren. During this, the Buffalo Soldier goes to inform Governor Griffon of General Diego's operations, only to be captured as Griffon is fully aware of the operation. Afterwards, Red strikes out on his own and disables the train carrying Diego's gold. In the ensuing firefight, Diego is critically wounded. He offers Red everything. However, Red declines and kills General Diego. Later, during the quick-draw competition, which Annie Stoakes and Jack Swift both attend, Red learns that it was Governor Griffon who sold out his parents to General Diego. Governor Griffon orders Red to be killed by contestant Mr. Kelley, but Red defeats and kills him instead and pursues Griffon back to his mansion with the aid of Annie & Jack. There, Red shoots Griffon in quick-draw fashion. For killing him the Sheriff offers to pay Red the gold he is owed and warns him to flee as murdering an official is a hanging offense, but he refuses to arrest Red because of all the good he has done for the people. Red, however, refuses telling him to give the gold to Annie to pay off her debts and help the Buffalo Soldier she rescued. He is disheartened to realize that Jack perished in the firefight to give him a chance to kill Griffon and takes Griffon's revolver, later claiming "It never was about the money." Reception Red Dead Revolver received favorable reviews, aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 2 version 74.59% and 73/10045 and the Xbox version 74.29% and 74/100. As of July 2, 2010, it has sold 920,000 copies in North America according to Joystiq. In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Sequels Main article: The first glimpse at a sequel was in 2005 when Rockstar showed a teaser at a Sony press conference. The successor to Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption, was officially announced for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2009. After a few delays in release dates, it was finally released on May 18, 2010 in North America, and on May 21, 2010 in Europe and Australia to critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising the game's gameplay and technical improvements over its predecessor. Red Dead Redemption 2 was confirmed by Rockstar in October 2016, and is scheduled for release in Q2 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.